Dancing with dragons by iofeye

JUNE 15TH, 2022

Sadly, the art scene in the “City by the Bay” – has become more and more of a rarity – as its elbowed out by the headquarters of such tech giants as Twitter, taking over the physical real estate space – and driving up the rents in neighborhoods.  

The brick & mortar home of FORT Gallery was established in San Francisco in 2007 by one Vanessa Coleman – as an interdisciplinary art space and music venue. The inaugural locale was in the heart of the Mission district. Back in those ancient days, the rent for a one room San Francisco gallery was an unheard of: $2k a month. 

“With immediate success through my first group exhibition, I solidified FORT’s place in the SF art scene-hosting film screenings & live music while curating exhibits that pushed the envelope,” Coleman says. “I moved the gallery to downtown Oakland where my space grew into an 8 room gallery with office and entire back unit for live music at the same price.” Adding: “It was a part of the first monthly Art Walk that is now mimicked around the world today.”

 FORT ran until 2016.Over that 9 year span, FORT expanded to four locales in the Bay Area, providing a creative home to hundreds of artists and musicians - who were from all points around the globe.

“It was a fun time and never felt like a challenge because support was there in abundance to keep spaces like this alive and thriving,” Coleman recollects. “The emerging art scene was massive & our community was dedicated and passionate. It was a wild decade to say the least, but a powerful and historical time for the Bay Area art scene.”

 So, what does one do when rents of a city become higher than the gross national product of a small country?

They move the operation to the metaverse.

FEMME FUTURE

Histórias Fantásticas

Creature In the Sea V by Dehiscence

Fé by Artdeft

The Fragility of Balance by AEMPATIA

Call me your God by 1dontknow

FORT has launched a metaverse gallery to showcase NFT artists via the environmentally friendly Tezos platform. 

“I not only take pride in my curation but also in the actual built-out installations that will surround specific frames in the gallery, giving the viewer a fully immersive experience,” says Coleman.  “I also have purchased virtual real estate and gallery space for FORT across eth/xtz platforms, contributing a VR experience for those who can’t attend IRL events in Miami and visit the gallery-an experience we exhibited via the Oculus Quest 2 at Art Basel in Miami this year.”

Coleman is a purveyor of the Web3 ethos of the space – both as an artist and as a curator; going by the moniker: Ambassador of Women, Creativity Cultivator, and the Boss Woman behind FORT.  

She began her career working in analog collage; and now she has set up shop in Mérida, Mexico - where she creates multimedia art - and lives with her husband and son. 

Coleman displays her own art under the sobriquet: Artwolf. Her current project is entitled: VIBRATIONALS; a visual representation of frequency – will be part of FORT NFT Gallery in 2022/23.

Read with me: The elements represent emotion & that emotion represents the level of frequency created; whether bright and light, dark and heavy, vague and dense, etc. Each work carries an emotive assertion to the holder in the description.

On the FORT front, the art collective just had an exhibit that opened at NFTCON at the Miami Convention Center, entitled FEMEE FUTURE.

As stated in their very Web3-esque artist statement:

The playing field has leveled.

NFT personas mask gender, often confusing men who cheer me on as their bro.

I’m not your man.

I’m not your woman.

We are artists each creating fantastical worlds and scenes, visions & dreams that bring us closer to the collective WE.

FORT's last big exhibition was the May 5th show: Rarible: Histórias Fantásticas.

“We partnered with the platform Rarible and the theme of the show is fantastical whimsy,” says Coleman. “I chose the artists creating work based around that aesthetic, as well as emerging creators that I felt deserved some good visibility from the partnership. I’ve been wanting Artedeft in a FORT show for a while, so I’m honored & thrilled to see his work grace the exhibition poster - a work we mint each month on the objkt platform to immortalize these artists & exhibitions on the blockchain.” 

Other artists included in Histórias Fantásticas: @jenjustjen3, @iofeye, @5_minutestories, @moyosorebriggs, @IamtheAstra, @1dontknows, @DehiscenceArt, @VeeeeColeman, @letsglitchit, @epicthundercat, @BrightMeMoon, @Empatia17, @Kal_inspace, @thegoldcurrent.

Coleman has found that NFTs are a big gamechanger in the art world.  

“The past year has been a roller coaster in and of itself as a cross-chain creator, and Tezos curator and collector,” she says. “If you follow the crypto cycle, you’re aware we are going into hibernation soon and this will have a huge effect on emerging creators.”

Thus, Coleman finds the importance of galleries, such as FORT, to pave the way through integration of the traditional art world with Web3. 

“This is pivotal to break the toxic patterns developing via NFT Twitter that these incredible creators should be pricing their work at 1-2 tezos when $XTZ is likely to drop to an unsustainable amount for the majority of creators globally within the next year. By the next super cycle in a few years, collectors will filter out as placeholders for curators and galleries and we will see professional curation step in.” 

Concluding: “I’m hoping that Fort Gallery NFT can set the precedent as we pioneer this movement on the Tezos platform from a foundation going back 15 years.”

Meanwhile, on the brick & mortar front, watch for FORT Gallery NFT’s new home in Merida, Yucatán – later in ‘22.